She creates recipes so good you can't tell they are healthy

Emily Frisella isn’t a professional chef, but she works in her home kitchen each day. She develops and tests recipes for delicious dishes that fit with her active lifestyle. She logs a few hours at the stove or counter, photographs her efforts, then writes the recipes and posts them to her blog, Fit Home and Health. Her tag line, Meals Made Simple, sums up Frisella’s cooking philosophy.

In February 2015, Frisella left her full-time job to pursue her passion for cooking and health. She completed a project six years in the making: Her cookbook “Dishing Out Health” is scheduled to go on sale in August. The move paid off for Frisella in other ways, too.

She partnered with the Smoothie Bar to create a special monthly protein-packed low-carbohydrate, low-sugar smoothie. She’ll soon teach a 10-week cooking classes at the New U, a gym and wellness facility scheduled to open this spring in Fenton that welcomes people struggling with obesity. In March, she will launch a podcast, “Food in Session!” “I just want people to be healthy,” she says.

When did you start cooking? I grew up on a row crop and cattle farm about 45 minutes west of St. Louis. We always had fresh, wonderful ingredients, and my mom was an amazing country cook. I’ve been cooking from the time I was old enough to stand on a chair at the counter to help her.

Why did you choose to pursue cooking? For a few reasons. I have a curious mind. I like to read about food – cookbooks, biographies, nonfiction, so I’m always learning. Food is at the center of celebrations and gatherings. It’s at the core of people’s lives, something that connects us all. I wanted to become more healthy, to create real world recipes that give flavor to “diet” foods.

You’ve haven’t used the word diet in our conversation previously. Do you follow a particular diet philosophy in your cooking? No. I don’t overload recipes with salt or sugars, and I do keep the carbohydrate count low. I cook whole foods, and I create my recipes with ingredients that are readily available.

How would you characterize your cooking? I don’t cook food that’s simply a substitute as in “This tastes good for diet food.” I want people to say “This tastes really good” with no qualifiers. I like to say “All my recipes are husband-approved.” If a man can’t tell something’s healthy or good for him, that’s success.

You mentioned your husband. Does he share your health consciousness? Yes. When I met Andy, he had just started Supplement Superstores. The firm I worked for designed graphics for the store. We were both seeing other people at the time, but we shared a passion for healthy living, exercise and wellness. Later, when our circumstances changed, we dated and married. Most often, we eat at home. Like the saying goes “Cooking is love made visible.” It’s my mission to help others love the art of cooking while creating healthy dishes for themselves and their families.